Stellar Ecosystem
News

Gab CEO Andrew Torba announced plans to fork Keybase and replace its Stellar wallet integration with Bitcoin Lightning Network, positioning the move as part of Gab's broader strategy to fork open-source projects and remove what he calls 'shitcoins' in favor of Bitcoin.

Paysend, a London-based fintech serving over 1 million users, is launching a stablecoin on Stellar to enable instant global payments without cross-border fees for expats and multi-currency account holders.

Wirex launched 26 fiat-backed stablecoins on Stellar and added Lumens support to its crypto debit card, enabling users to spend USD, EUR equivalents via VISA. The circular process of converting fiat to stablecoin and back raises questions about practical utility.

Currency Matters joined IBM Blockchain World Wire, a real-time payments network built on Stellar protocol, enabling cross-border transactions across 50+ countries with access to stablecoins and XLM.

IBM launched World Wire, a real-time global payments system built on Stellar that connects regulated financial institutions and replaces legacy correspondent banking. Supporting 47 currencies across 72 countries, it represents a major enterprise adoption milestone for the Stellar network.

IBM Blockchain World Wire, built on Stellar, now operates in 72 countries with 47 currencies and 44 banking endpoints. IBM signed letters of intent with six global banks to issue stablecoins on the network and partnered with Stronghold to enable USD stablecoin settlement.

Coinbase Pro announced it is listing Stellar Lumens (XLM), accepting deposits immediately with trading to follow once liquidity is established. XLM is not yet available on Coinbase's retail platforms. The listing comes after Coinbase identified XLM as a candidate asset last December.

SatoshiPay received a $1 million grant from the Stellar Development Foundation to expand micropayments adoption beyond publishing into gaming, tipping, and other industries through a marketing program offering up to $100,000 grants to companies implementing paywalls.

SatoshiPay, a Stellar-based micropayments startup, partnered with Axel Springer SE to enable blockchain payments for content from major publishers like Business Insider and Rolling Stone, with wallet integration launching January 31.

SatoshiPay partnered with Axel Springer, Europe's largest digital publisher, to enable micropayments for news content using Stellar Lumens. The integration is expected to launch in spring 2019 across Axel Springer's brands including Business Insider and Bild.

Grayscale Investments added Stellar Lumens to its professional investment fund, marking the ninth crypto-asset listing and opening access to accredited investors earning $200k+. The move reflects institutional interest in Stellar's cross-border payment infrastructure.

Jed McCaleb, creator of Stellar, discusses the project's 2018 emergence as a mature blockchain platform after years of obscurity, highlighting partnerships with IBM and Blockchain.com, the Chain acquisition, and his vision for Stellar as a payments protocol connecting financial institutions.

Novatti launched the Novatti AUD Utility Token on Stellar Network, a one-to-one AUD-backed stablecoin. As the first AUD anchor on Stellar, Novatti enables instant AUD payments and settlements with access to global foreign exchange via the Stellar Network.

Stellar and Ripple, both born from the same 2014 fork, are competing to replace SWIFT in cross-border payments. Ripple secured Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank while Stellar partnered with IBM on Blockchain World Wire, but both face a bear market downturn.

IBM has launched Blockchain World Wire, a cross-border payment solution built on Stellar that reduces costs and speeds up international transactions by converting currencies to digital assets through the World Wire API.

IBM Blockchain World Wire, built on Stellar's protocol, launched as a near-real-time cross-border payments system. The platform uses digital assets to bridge fiat currencies and promises faster settlement with reduced transaction costs for financial institutions.

IBM and Stronghold launched Stronghold USD, a dollar-backed stablecoin on Stellar, enabling businesses and asset managers to conduct faster, cheaper cross-border payments and foreign exchange settlements.

The article explores Stellar's federation system for human-readable addresses like anthony*tempo.eu.com, which simplifies payments compared to raw public keys. It discusses QR codes, URIs similar to Bitcoin's bip 0021, and compatibility among Stellar wallets like Lobstr and Papaya. Smart anchors like Flutterwave integrate federation for bank account validation.

Kik launched a crypto-economy allowing users to earn and spend Kin tokens through the Kin Marketplace Beta. Users can earn Kin by completing quizzes, tutorials, and polls, then spend it on premium app themes. Kin operates on its own blockchain forked from Stellar, enabling zero-fee transactions.

Kik's Kin Foundation announced it will fork Stellar to create its own blockchain for the Kin token, eliminating transaction fees entirely to enable micropayments. The move trades some decentralization for zero-cost transactions, using federated nodes run by ecosystem partners rather than Stellar's validator model.

Kik announced its kin token will operate on both Ethereum and Stellar blockchains simultaneously using atomic swaps. Stellar will handle transactions with faster confirmation times and lower fees, while Ethereum maintains liquidity, allowing the messaging app to scale its cryptocurrency payments system.

Stellar Development Foundation released a formal specification for adopting Lightning Network technology to improve transaction scalability. The roadmap targets testnet launch by April 1 and production implementation by autumn, addressing demands from partners like Kik and IBM.

Stellar Development Foundation invested in Keybase, a cryptography startup co-founded by OKCupid creators, to build person-to-person cryptocurrency payments using Stellar's lumens blockchain with near-zero fees.